After He-Man
by KateMueller
Summary: A musing on what might have happened between the 1980s Filmation series and the proposed He-Ro Son of He-Man series.


The sunset was brilliant. It reminded Teela of the sunset after the mesotronic bomb's explosion, when He-Man had insisted on carrying her back to the palace. She wondered if He-Man was watching it somewhere, too. She'd last seen him three months ago, when he left Castle Grayskull with Skeletor's ice-encased body, to deposit it at a secret spot in the Frozen Territories. His good-bye had been perfunctory, and she hadn't realized at the time that, with Skeletor defeated for good, He-Man no longer may need to come back from…from wherever he went when he wasn't defending Eternia. She'd been sad when she realized that she may never be able to tell him a proper good-bye and thank you, but her relationship with him already was strange, so she supposed its ending was appropriate.

"Beautiful sunset, huh?" Adam walked up next to Teela and leaned against the balustrade, his eyes faraway. "I haven't seen one this good in years."

"Me too." Teela no longer felt the need to get in a dig at the Prince and how he spent too much time admiring sunsets instead of working. He'd been working tirelessly since Skeletor's defeat, resettling farmers whose villages and fields had been destroyed in the last battles, rebuilding damaged fortresses, and securing Skeletor's henchmen and gathering evidence for their trials. He'd put himself in physical danger more than a few times doing these tasks, but he hadn't flinched from it.

"Do you remember the night right after you set off the mesotronic bomb?" Adam was still staring at the sky in front of them. "This is what the sunset looked like that night."

Teela swallowed. "You were watching the sunset that night?"

"It was the only thing I could do. You have no idea how worried I was."

Teela leaned onto the balustrade next to Adam. "I'm sorry. But it was worth it to me to risk my life to save Eternia – and your family."

Adam shook his head. "You've always put everyone ahead of yourself. It's what I admire most about you."

"And I'm watching you do the same thing every day, right now." Teela paused, then asked the question that had been bothering her for the past few months. "Did Skeletor have a spell on you? The Adam I've seen in the past few months is the Adam I grew up with – the one that vanished when Skeletor appeared."

Adam turned his head and looked at her with a wry expression. "Skeletor's appearance did have an effect on me, although I wouldn't call it a spell. But I think you'll find that the old Adam is here for good."

Teela smiled. "Good. I've missed him."

Adam straightened and turned his whole body towards her. "Best friends again?"

"Always." They hugged and Teela found herself melting into the embrace. She'd gotten her best friend back! The one person she could trust with anything. She felt some of her internal brittleness softening.

"Teela, one more question." Teela pulled back and nodded. Adam still was holding her elbows and had a serious expression. He paused. "Never mind. I'll ask you in three months."

Teela raised an eyebrow. "I'm writing that on my calendar, mind you."

"I hope you do."

Three months later

Teela strode through the palace hallways with a sense of lightness that she wouldn't have thought possible a year ago. All of Skeletor's henchmen had been tried and incarcerated and even their best escape attempts hadn't worked – so far. The Sorceress reported that Skeletor still was on ice. Eternia's rebuilding was progressing well.

And Adam... Adam had come so far than King Randor was talking about turning over the crown in a year or two. Adam continued to impress all with his diplomacy and problem-solving, and he hadn't had one unexpected "appointment" that caused him to vanish. His fighting skills had progressed to the point where Teela only rarely could beat him. Not only was Teela proud of him, she admired him too. She wouldn't be able to juggle all the balls that he seemed to keep in the air with complete aplomb while retaining his sense of humor.

Tonight was three months since that conversation on the balcony. A busy three months where she and Adam had exchanged confidences, shared their dreams for the future, teased each other, and re-established their old connection. But Adam hadn't forgotten about their appointment and she'd gotten a formal invitation to join him on the balcony again tonight. She smiled to herself, wondering what sort of joke he was trying to pull. He hadn't lost any of his wit, but his charm for her had increased ten-fold now that he no longer was the lazy princeling. She still thought that Skeletor had put some sort of hex on Adam – the change in Adam from when Skeletor was active was so distinct.

She walked onto the balcony and saw that the sunset was looking spectacular again tonight. She moved over the railing to admire the view.

"I ordered it just for you. I hope you like it," Adam said, entering the balcony behind her and gesturing at the sunset. She frowned a little. He was still Adam, but for a moment he reminded her of He-Man. She shook her head. It's just that she still wasn't completely used to Adam's acting with such confidence, she told herself.

"You show excellent taste, as always," she replied. "So should I ask you what you needed to wait three months to say, or should we make small talk for a while first?"

Adam smiled. "Patience has never been your strong suit."

"No, and if you haven't figured that out by now, I don't think you know me very well."

Adam crossed the balcony in a couple of strides so that he was standing immediately in front of her. "Well, if you don't want any preliminaries…"

Teela looked up at him. "Yes…?"

He gently took her face in his hands and planted his lips on hers. Teela gasped and pulled away.

Adam studied her. "You said you didn't want any preliminaries."

Teela's mind was reeling. Yes, she was attracted to the man in front of her – hadn't she tried to suppress that enough over the past few months? – and yes, she had thought about kissing him ever since they were teenagers, but this was a bit too sudden. Or was it? Was there anything else that needed to be said between the two of them?

"That's right," Teela finally said. "We don't need any of that." She reached up and pulled his head down to hers. And the magnificent sunset was completely wasted on two people who had eyes for no one but each other.


End file.
